Saturday, August 01, 2009

I am absolutely certain that members of my family have been infiltrated by anti-adoptee rights forces in an effort to dissuade me from volunteering with or attending the next Adoptee Rights Demonstration.

My evidence -

Exhibit A: The LaundryThere was no dirty laundry in this house before I left for Philadelphia on July 19th. How then, when I returned on the 24th did seven, yes seven, count them - seven - huge hampers of dirty clothes, towels, sheets appear in the laundry room? During my time in Philly, did the members of my family honestly need to wear two or three different items of clothing per day? Why the need to wear so many outfits? What events were they attending in my absence that required such a drastic turnover of outerwear?

They've all been interrogated separately, yet no satisfactory answer has been given as to the mountain of laundry, nor their seeming amnesia on how to operate a standard Kenmore washing machine and dryer.

Exhibit B: The DishesSimilar to the lack of dirty laundry at my exit, the sink as well was clear of dirty dishes. Apparently there must have been heavily attended dinner parties every single night I was in Philadelphia, as there was not a single clean dish, cup, knife, fork or spoon to be found in the house upon my return. Not only were all dishes in the kitchen dirty, the dishes and silverware that had already been packed and boxed for our impending move had been retrieved from their storage container in the garage, smeared with some sort of industrial strength food products, and finally layered heavily with shellac to ensure their non-wash-ability upon my return from Philly.

Again, no satisfactory answer has been given to questions such as, "What the hell is this?", "Who the hell unpacked these dishes?", or even "What the hell is smeared all over this soup tureen that we have never once used the entire 10 years we've been in this house?"

Exhibit C: The AnimalsLest anyone think I am picking unnecessarily on my family -- of grown adults mind you -- allow me to add an even more sinister component to the anti-adoptee rights forces that have crept into my house during my absence. I believe my innocent pets to have been manipulated and used as hapless pawns.

The cats seem to have evolved opposable thumbs during my week away, allowing them to transport large quantities of litter far away from the litterbox and series of strategically placed handy-dandy PETCO X-Large Washable Litterbox Mats with adorable paw-print designs. How did kitty litter make it 14 feet from the basement to the bathroom down the hall, a bathroom that has never had a litterbox present in it at any time during my stay in this house? The cats remain mute on the topic.

Similarly, I am expected to believe that somehow the dog has developed a taste for furniture, as this german shepherd who has never once chewed anything but toys since he's been a puppy, apparently has been able to eat half the base off an antique 1739 secretary desk that was brought over from Antiqua by my in-law's ancestors.

Standing separate, these three items would be a minor annoyance at best. All combined together they point to an undeniable plot to prevent me from volunteering or attending ever again.

Sucks for them, it won't stop me.

As sad as I am that I missed the New Orleans Adoptee Rights Demonstration (note: once again because of a member of my family 'just happened' to get into a car accident last June.. That required me to drive him to a zillion doctor appointments for the next few months. Coincidence? Now, I think not.) nothing, nothing, nothing would have kept me from going to Philly. There were rumors and dark clouds on the employment horizon last March when I received my bonus from my ever so soon to be outsourced beloved job, so I'm glad I set aside that bonus money into a CD so it would be available.

It was extraordinary to meet up with people who I hadn't seen in such a long time, and meet for the first time friends who prior to this had been online only. And the pictures holy crap have there been boatloads of pictures. Sadly though, once again there is not a single picture of me to be found anywhere on the internet, as that fat bitch from the Kingston Regday was jumping into every shot again, she's so irritating.

I had heard last year about how many legislators had absolutely no idea that original birth certificates were sealed from adopted adults, but it wasn't until I was actually there and in the thick of it that I could experience this for myself.

But what balanced my dismay was the opposite of that - the number of legislators who said they had just heard about this, because one of their constituents had sent them a postcard, letter or email mentioning this and the demonstration. Over the past few months I'd heard from so many people who had for the first timesent a letter, sent a postcard, or sent the email from the Change.org petition. A lot of people who, before getting involved in the demonstration, had no idea who their assembly-person or senator even was. And a lot of people who are taking a first time interest in their local government, not only for adoptee rights but for a lot of issues that effect them.

Just a few years ago, that was me. I'd write if someone told me to write but mostly to just copy and paste a pre-defined letter because I was so afraid of saying 'the wrong thing'. But I'm happy about my volunteer work, if nothing it's introduced me to the people who represent me in Albany and despite the recent squabbles in the capitol, many of them I'm extremely proud of. (Note I've said many and not all, but that's another rant for another time.)

But mostly I'm just so happy for the people who wrote for the first time and continue to write. The people who get so pumped up and excited to get a response from their Senator. It's a hell of a lot harder to write about adoptee rights than it is to send off a letter about a recycling bill. After a lifetime of invalidation over the simplest of expressions about the fact you aren't entitled to your own identity, to send that letter for the first time is a big deal to many people. It means shrugging off the be grateful you weren't aborted and the aren't you lucky to be chosen and didn't you have so much of a better life. It means believing you have a right to that piece of paper everyone takes for granted without conditions or exceptions or exclusions.

And that's a big deal to me.

But now I must return. Not only do I still have laundry to catch up on, both my work and my personal inboxes overfloweth and I've yet to get caught up there. Which makes me think perhaps my place of employment has been infiltrated as well.... My online time most likely will continue to be limited as I prepare for my impending move and change of employment, so to those emails in my inbox I'm not ignoring you, seriously. Blame my family. I know I do.

But say, there's going to be a party in Louisville next July. Sure hope you can swing by. I know I'll be there.

2
complaints from ingrates:

How true it is, ULB, that sending a letter and visiting a government rep can be powerful and enlightening.

When I visited my MPP in 2005, I was there for an hour trying to convince him not to support a disclosure/anonymity veto. He is an a-parent, and what triggered him was the idea that is two adopted daughters could potentially be "legally" denied the right to their own identities. Interestingly, that hadn't crossed his mind before we spoke.

How amazing was it when he stood up in the Legislature to vote yes to the bill passing with access for all. I wanted to run over and hug him.